'The Oklahoman' among AP/ONE sweepstakes winners

NORMAN (AP) — Three Oklahoma City area newspapers picked up the annual AP/Oklahoma News Executives' Carl Rogan awards competition for coverage of a deadly tornado, a local veterans center and the development of wind power at the AP/ONE banquet and award ceremony on Saturday.

The Oklahoman staff won the sweepstakes in the Division A spot news category for stories about the 2008 Picher tornado.

According to the judges, "The Oklahoman staff produced a really strong team coverage of the tornado that destroyed part of the town of Picher in 2008 and resulted in seven deaths. It was an outstanding effort."

In Division B, Norman Transcript reporters Carole Cole-Frowe and M. Scott Carter won for an investigative report on a veterans facility in Norman.

"The pair made sure that their readers were given both sides when the Veterans Center in Norman was facing turmoil between families, patients and employees," according to judges. As part of their coverage they revealed that the state does not investigate veterans nursing homes, but it became a federal responsibility after a state legislator decided they did not have sufficient resources to monitor, the judges said.

David Page of the Journal Record took home the sweepstakes trophy in Division C for his general news category entry, "Developing Wind Power."

The judges liked the background included in his report and said his writing was clear, clean and "in a word, relevant."

In the photography category, Mike Simons of the Tulsa World won the sweepstakes in Division A. Ed Blochowiak of the Shawnee News-Star won in Division B and the Division C sweepstakes winner was Maike Sabolich of The Journal Record.